Romeo and Juliet Act II Scene II Lines 90-111
JULIET
Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face,
90
Else would a maiden blush bepaint my check
For that which thou hast heard me speak tonight.
Fain I would dwell on form; fain, fain deny
What I have spoke. But farewell compliment.
Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say “Ay,”
95
And I will take thy word. Yet, if thou swear’st,
Thou mayst prove false. At lovers’ perjuries,
They say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo,
If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully.
Or, if thou thinkest I am too quickly won,
100
I’ll frown and be perverse and say thee nay,
So thou wilt woo, but else not for the world.
In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond,
And therefore thou mayst think my [havior] light.
But trust me, gentleman, I’ll prove more true
105
Than those that have [more] coying to be strange.
I should have been more strange, I must confess,
But that thou overheard ‘st ere I was ware
My true-love passion. Therefore pardon me,
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discoverèd.
110
Romeo and Juliet Act II Scene II Lines 2-25
ROMEO
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale and grief
5
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid since she is envious.
Her vestal livery is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off.
It is my lady. O, it is my love!
10
O, that she knew she were!
She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold. ‘Tis not to me she speaks.
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
15
Having some business, [do] entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven
20
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See how she leans her cheek upon her hand.
O, that I were that glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!
25
Romeo and Juliet Act II Scene III Lines 1-31
FRIAR LAWRENCE:
The gray-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night,
[Check’ring] the eastern clouds with streaks of light,
And fleckled darkness like a drunkard reels
From forth day’s path and Titan’s [fiery] wheels.
Now, ere the sun advance his burning eye,
The day to cheer and night’s dank dew to dry,
I must upfill this osier cage of ours
With baleful weeds and precious-juiced flowers.
The earth that’s nature’s mother is her tomb;
What is her burying grave, that is her womb;
And from her womb children of divers kind
We sucking on her natural bosom find,
Many for many virtues excellent,
None but for some, and yet all different.
O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies
In plants, herbs, stones, and their true qualities.
For naught so vile that on the earth doth live
But to the earth some special good doth give;
Nor aught so good but, strained from that fair use,
Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse.
Virtue itself turns to vice, being misapplied,
And vice sometime by action dignified.
Enter Romeo.
Within the infant find of this weak flower
Poison hath residence and medicine power:
For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part;
Being tasted, stays all senses with the heart.
Two such opposed kings encamp them still
In man as well as herbs – grace and rude will;
And where the worser is predominant,
Full soon the canker death eats up that plant.
Romeo and Juliet Act III Scene II Lines 1 – 31
JULIET
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus’ lodging. Such a wagoner
As Phaeton would whip you to the west
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
5
That runaways’ eyes may wink, and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalked of and unseen.
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties, or if love be blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,
10
Thou sober-suited matron all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match
Played for a pair of stainless maidenhoods.
Hood my unmanned blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle till strange love grow bold,
15
Think true love acted simple modesty.
Come, night. Come, Romeo. Come, thou day in night,
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow upon a raven’s back.
Come, gentle night; come, loving black-browed night, 20
Give me Romeo, and when I shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
O, I have bought the mansion of a love
But not possessed it, and, though I am sold,
Not yet enjoyed. So tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
25
To an impatient childe that hath new robes
30
And may not wear them.
Romeo and Juliet Act I Scene V Lines 104-117
ROMEO
If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
JULIET
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.
ROMEO
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
JULIET
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
ROMEO
O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do.
They pray: grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
JULIET
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.
ROMEO
Then move not while my prayer’s effect I take.
PART 1: Complete the following tasks in your group:
1. Listen to the speech read out loud.
2. Write down your initial impressions on the back of the passage.
3. Decide where your speech takes place in the play.
4. Each group member will color-mark and annotate their copy of
the speech for metaphors, similes, imagery, rhyme scheme and
wordplay. The speech will be fully annotated.
 Pay especially close attention to metaphors (i.e. What
contrast does Juliet keep referring to?). Also, what ideas
does this speech introduce about the play, the characters,
and the plot?
 This individual annotation will be worth 10 points. Turn
them in before your presentation.
5. As a group, look up any words that are unfamiliar or that feel
strange. Use the definitions you find to help you with Step 6.
6. Translate the passage into contemporary English.
 The goal of the translation is to keep the original themes
intact while updating the language and context to suit a 21st
century audience.
7. Assign roles for the presentation. See back of this page.
PART 2: Presentations:
Presentations will look like this:
1) A group member will introduce the context of their passage and
then perform the passage assigned to the group. This person may
have their book handy, but they must not rely on it.
2) Two group members will present their annotation of the speech
on an overhead. This person is to show (a) key literary devices in
the passage and (b) the larger significance of this passage. I
recommend this portion be given to an Honors Student.
3) A group member will perform a contemporary translation of this
passage.
4) A group member will explain the choices behind the translation.